Purpose and Program Characteristics. This is a training program that has successfully trained graduate students in the fields of molecular and cellular endocrinology, neuroendocrinology and neurobiology for the past 20 years. The strength of the program is the outstanding core faculty and the unusually rich research environment provided the the University of California, San Diego, the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences and the Scripps Research Institute. The faculty are all internationally recognized for their research accomplishments and have long records of training graduate students who have gone on to very productive careers. Thus far, we have 20 students who have academic positions as independent investigators in outstanding academic institutions, and 7 who are investigators in biotech companies, with others currently at the end of their postdoctoral training period. This program is interdisciplinary, involving faculty from UCSD"s School of Medicine, UCSD Department of Biology and the UCSD's Department and Divions of Endocrinology, Physiology, Pharmacology, and Department of Cellular and Molecular medicine, Neural Systems and the Peptide Biology Laboratories at the Salk Institute participate. Graduate students learn modern research approaches, concepts and techniques applicable to molecular biology, cellular biology, genomics, genetics and biochemistry and have been acquiring the broad background of the literature and basic science of these fields required for discovery. Formal courses, hands-on laboratory experience, and intensive interaction with program faculty will also prepare trainess for teaching in this discipline. We hope to be permitted the opportunity to continue this high successful predoctoral trianing grant, of which we are quite proud. Trainees: Eight trainee students per year, with bachelor degrees in biology or chemistry will be admitted to the Ph.D. programs. They are selected from >~100 applicants to the graduate programs on the basis of point average, GRE scores, and interviews with faculty and advanced graduate students with full attempt to attract minority students. Graduate students will be directed towards careers in molecular endocrinology, regulation neuroendocrinology, or neurobiology and disease, and encouraged to develop skills in innovation, responses, bench science, writing, teaching translational research and oral presentation.